The Hole He Left Behind
by Itban Fuyu
Summary: Hiccup helps Zephyr and Nuffink deal with the pain of having their little bird flies free into the wild. The Conversation leads to an open wound in Hiccup's heart and so the hole family makes an important decision. One-Shot.


**Inspired by the deleted "Bird Scene"**

**Summary: Hiccup helps Zephyr and Nuffink deal with the pain of having their little bird flies free into the wild. The Conversation leads to an open wound in Hiccup's heart and so the hole family makes an important decision.**

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_The Hole He Left Behind_

Zephyr and Nuffink sniffed as tears fell down their cheeks. For the past months, they have been taking care of a small bird that had broken his wing. When they saw him like that, they ran to their father for help.

Hiccup told them what was usually done in these occasions and the two kids were horrified, however, Hiccup also said that they could save the bird if Zephyr and Nuffink would take care of him until he was able to fly free and return to the wild. And in fact, the bird stayed with them for a little longer than necessary, since it was still the middle of winter. But alas, the farewell day had come.

"He didn't even look back…" Zephyr sniffed, looking at her father, kneeling by their side.

"Well, birds don't think the way we do. But I'm sure he'll be forever grateful for what you two did for him."

"But now he's gone…" Nuffink wiped his cheeks. "And… and I have this hole here…" he pointed at his chest.

Hiccup tried to smile in a comforting way and petted both on their heads. "I know. But it'll get better, I promise. And unfortunately, it'll happen every time you need to say goodbye to something or someone you love. But this pain will subside with time." He held both kid's chins up to look at him. "Friendship and relationships are not forever, but their memory can last a lifetime."

"Was it like that?" Nuffink's voice broke. "When Toothless went away?"

"No…" He shook his head. It's been 10 years since he last saw the Night Fury, but the memories of him still played vividly in his mind. "Toothless was my best friend, the hole he left was way bigger. And I know how you two are feeling right now, after all, I took care of a little bird when I was a kid, too."

Unbeknownst to the children, Astrid approached to check on them, but their attention was on their father. Hiccup, however, glanced at his wife behind Zephyr and Nuffink.

"Then, how can you take it, daddy? It hurts so much…" Zephyr asked.

"You only have to wait a little. Of course it hurt a lot when Toothless and the dragons left, all of Berk was depressed for weeks. We all loved our dragons very much, but it was the best for them, so we had to let them go. But it got better; we had each other. I had the gang, Gobber, my mom and Astrid, the most important person in my life until you two came around." His playful and tender tone made the two kids chuckle lightly. "So now I have my family to help me forget the hole Toothless left in my heart."

"And Grandpa, too?" The little boy's eyes were still wet, but the tears were mostly gone.

"Yes. I miss both of them so much."

Zephyr noticed the pain in her father's voice, so she hugged him. Behind the children, Astrid looked down, missing her scaly friend, too.

"So why don't you visit Toothless? We can't visit Valhalla, but we can go to the Hidden World, right?" The girl asked. "He's not gone forever, so wouldn't it be nice to check on the dragons?"

"You know what?" Astrid intervened, surprising both children. "I think that's a great idea."

"We don't even know if we can find it again…" Hiccup faced his wife and stood up.

"Yeah, but if anyone can, it'll be us." She grabbed her husband's hand. "Together." Astrid smiled at Hiccup and he leaned closer to give her a quick kiss, agreeing with her.

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**It's kinda short, but I liked how it turned out with the family going to the Hidden World, leading to the Epilogue Scene in HTTYD3. **

**This "Bird Scene" was my favorite deleted scene and its theme resonated with the story's theme so much I just wanted to see it finished so badly! Besides, I wanted to see more little-Hiccup! But I understand it could be a little redundant, so it needed to be cut out... **

**I did for a fun-fan contest on instagram, you can check it out on my profile (AT author . marilia), I'll probably won't win it because I don't have many followers, but I'm here for the fun of it. **

**BTW, just out of curiosity, the sentence Hiccup said "Friendship and relationships are not forever, but their memory can last a lifetime", I think I got it from Dean in an interview or something, I really liked it and wrote it down and decided to use in this story, since it fit here so much.**

**If you liked what you read, please consider reviewing down below, it'll make my day! :D **


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